


I'm Not Gay, I Swear

by universallyvoidcandy



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bisexual Male Character, Bullying, Everyone Is Alive, M/M, Pansexual Character, Swearing, i made the maitlands lydias parents, it just worked better okay yall, reader and bj are seniors btw, yes that includes bj
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-15 01:17:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19285135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universallyvoidcandy/pseuds/universallyvoidcandy
Summary: Reader is one of the popular kids at school, and Beetlejuice constantly gets bullied for liking guys.Based off the prompt "Person A is the only out gay/bi/not-straight person at school and Person B is the cool presumably-straight kid. One day a group of kids start bullying Person A because of their sexuality so Person B stands up for them and, in doing so, comes out to the entire school." from love-me-a-good-prompt on tumblr.





	I'm Not Gay, I Swear

**Author's Note:**

> i couldn't decide whether to make beetlejuice bi or pan so i just said bi for simplicity. reader is male, though it's not explicitly said if he's bi/gay/pan/whatever. he just loves boys okay. i'm in the process of writing more chapters, though this one can be read on its own. i wrote this with musical!bj in mind.

You didn’t know how, but you’d ended up as a rather popular character at your school. After getting up to some shenanigans last year, you found yourself surrounded by people you barely knew or cared about. Obviously you didn’t fully trust most of your ‘friends,’ but you did have a few people close to you from elementary and middle school. Still, it was nice to have people who liked you and had your back without asking questions. The least you could do was continue being nice to them. 

However, this had its drawbacks. For one, a great deal of people around you were quite homophobic--a rather large problem when you aren’t straight. As much as you dearly wished to call them out on their hatred, you couldn’t. Your school was in a semi-rural area, and rumors would spread with ease. It wasn’t safe to come out without a good reason. There was only one person you knew of who had come out, and he wasn’t having a fun time in school. 

Laurence, more commonly known as Beetlejuice, was that person. You’d weren't very close to him, but you wished that wasn't so. It was common knowledge that he was violently bisexual, and it was also known that he was frequently bullied because of it. The only person he hung out with was his younger cousin, Lydia. At the very least, your classmates didn't find it worth their time to target a freshman. 

That doesn't help the fact that you have to see your crush get beat up every day. You'd been infatuated with Beetlejuice since the moment you'd first set eyes on him. The idea of running away with him once you graduated tugged at your mind often. He was unlike anyone you'd ever met before, and you tried not to think about how he would never see you the way you wanted him to. 

Beetlejuice thought the same thing about you. He wanted nothing more than to spend a week or longer cuddled next to you in bed, talking about everything and nothing. Your presumed straight-ness pained him. That, and the fact that he thought you'd taken the same ignorant stance as the people you hung out with. At least his aunt, uncle, and Lydia could keep him sane. 

* * *

The hallways of your school were interesting. When you walked with others, you spent most of the time playing along with what they said while not truly paying attention. On days you walked alone, you were able to think clearly. Today, you'd brushed off most social interaction and told your peers that you wanted a day to yourself. Surprisingly, they obliged. Whatever lay at the end of the hallway tended to be quite normal. This was not the case for the current scenario. 

You'd had to discuss an assignment with one of your teachers at the end of the day, so most people were gone by the time you exited the front door. As you passed through the entrance, you pulled your phone out for the walk home. When you turned it on, you barely had 10% left. You decided to forgo music on your walk home today. 

Making your way across the football field, you could pinpoint some rather loud sobs from under the bleachers. You tried to ignore them, but it was useless. The guilt of not checking on whoever it was would eat you up later. A sigh passed your lips, and you walked towards the seating. 

When you reached the source of misery, your heart nearly leapt out of your chest. Beetlejuice was sitting on the ground, covered in bruises and cuts. 

“Holy shit, how can I help you right now?” Your voice startled him, and he scrambled back. 

“Go away. I don't need your fake hospitality, you'll just hurt me more.” You sat on the concrete across from him. 

“Why would I want to hurt you?” 

“All of your friends do. I don't expect you to be any different.” He wasn’t crying as much, but you could tell he was having a hard time keeping it together. 

“Just because you're expecting something doesn't mean you'll get it. And most of those people aren't really my friends. They certainly don't deserve anything close to that title if they're beating people up.” He wanted to trust you so damn badly, but he couldn't until you proved worthy of it. 

“Give me a reason why I should listen to you.” 

“Unlike our classmates, I'm not terribly homophobic. In fact, I'm the gayest person any of them will ever know. I know they bully you for that, and I would stop them if I wasn't so scared.” 

“How am I supposed to know you aren't lying to me?” 

“You don't. Not yet, at least. You can either tell me to fuck off, or you can put a little faith in me and let me clean you up.” You stood up, extending your hand. 

Every instinct he'd developed told Beetlejuice to swat it away, but he didn't. He allowed you to help him up. He allowed you to brush the dirt off his coat. He allowed you to wipe his tears away. He allowed you to walk him home. 

Nobody was in the house when you arrived. His aunt and uncle were still at work, and Lydia was out with her friends. He grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom and sat down on the living room couch. The kit was handed to you, and you set to work. You bandaged up anything that looked terrible, and made sure to clean any dirt off him. Once finished, you sat in silence together. It wasn’t broken until it felt unbearable. 

“You wanna talk about it?” 

“Only if you don’t make fun of me.” It was a miracle that Beetlejuice was trusting you this much. 

“I don’t intend to, nor will I.” 

He heaved a sigh. “Where do I start?” 

“Tell me when and how this began. I want to know as much as you’ll let me.” 

“Alright. First off, everyone hates me because I’m bi. Or pan. Even I don’t know which one it is at this point. Some people have a problem with that, so they hold a grudge against me personally. Me being the coward I am, I don’t fight back. There’s no point to it. I mean, I’ll eventually get out of this hellhole and I won’t have to deal with this, I just have to hold out for a little longer. I started running into this problem as soon as I came out last year. It hasn’t ceased in any way, though I could hide at home during summer. It wasn’t really gradual either. I let it slip one day, and everyone abandoned me. Like, immediately turned. The only people who give a shit about me are my family, my cousin’s friends, and I guess you now. Remind me again, why did you bother to stop for me?” His voice was filled with bitterness and spite. Not that you could blame him, really. He didn’t even do anything wrong except exist. 

“You were rather loud. I couldn’t leave anyone like that in good conscience. Especially if I had no reason to continue walking. How long were you alone until I got there?” 

“Ten minutes, I think. It’s hard to tell when your head is spinning. What did you mean when you said you were the gayest person your so-called friends will ever meet?” 

“I really love dicks.” A good five seconds of silence followed this. A huge bought of laughter came from both of you. 

“So eloquent. Where have you been all my life?” 

“Waiting to swoop in and pamper you after people are being asswipes to you. By the way, the next time that shit happens, come find me. I can’t promise that it’ll stop entirely, but I can likely help a lot.” It was a lot more than you thought you'd say, but you didn't regret it. Beetlejuice looked down and started fidgeting with his hands. 

“Are...are you sure about this? As much as I would like that, I don’t want you to lose what you have because of me.” He wouldn’t look up at your eyes. 

“Without a doubt.” 


End file.
